At a news conference, a survivor of clergy childhood sexual assault will speak out publicly for the first time about her abuse and urge others who have been hurt by San Diego Catholic clerics to file reports with the California Attorney General’s office.

She and her attorney will also disclose names and details about 5 publicly and credibly accused child molesting clerics who spent time in San Diego but are NOT on the diocese’s ‘accused’ list and prod local church officials to add those names while also revealing more information about proven, admitted and credibly accused priests, nuns, brothers, bishops, monks and seminarians.

When:

TODAY, Friday, May 10 at 10:45 am

Where:

In front of St. Jude’s Shrine of the West, 1129 S 38th St, San Diego, CA 92113

Who:

A woman who was sexually violated as a child by a San Diego priest and her attorney, who has represented hundreds of survivors of clergy childhood sexual abuse.

Why:

1) Last November, Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced that the Department of Justice is gathering information from the public regarding complaints of clergy childhood sexual abuse. Becerra’s announcement and investigation is a result of childhood sexual abuse survivors and advocates calling for a statewide grand jury investigation similar to Pennsylvania.

“This is a significant step for California and we suggest all survivors and advocates submit the online complaint form,” said attorney Joseph C. George, who is also a psychologist. The form is at https://oag.ca.gov/clergyabuse/complaint.

The survivor, who was abused by Father Gregory Sheridan, wants to let other survivors know that “you are not alone” and asks other survivors to submit information to the Attorney General’s office.

Monsignor Sheridan was the pastor at St. Jude’s from August 1954 to July 1970 and is listed onthe Diocese of San Diego’s list of priests credibly accused of child sexual abuse. He was a pastor at St. Peter in Fallbrook from September 1970 to June 1983. He worked in the Diocese of San Diego for 35 years.

San Diego church officials have received several credible accusations of childhood sexual abuse by Msgr. Sheridan, George says, including one by an eight-year-old third grade girl at St. Jude’s Academy in 1960 and at St. Peter’s Church in Fallbrook, CA.

Another survivor of childhood sexual abuse by Msgr. Sheridan, when she was a five-year-old kindergarten student at St. Jude’s Academy in 1960, will read a letter and speak to other victims encouraging them submit reports to the Attorney General’s office.

“It is hard to believe that Msgr. Sheridan was in elementary schools in the Diocese of San Diego for so long and only molested a 5 and 8-year-old girl in 1960 and an 8-year-old girl in 1968”, said the victim.

Earlier this month, Attorney General Xavier Becerra authored a letter to all 12 dioceses inCalifornia requesting that church officials retain documents regarding allegations of childhood sexual abuse by clergy members and also documents regarding mandatory reporting.

2) At the news conference, the identities of five more publicly accused abusive clerics will be disclosed. Each worked in the San Diego area, some for years, but has been left off the official San Diego diocesan ‘accused’ list. Most have attracted little or no attention in the area despite having been ‘outed’ by their church supervisors elsewhere.

The victims and their attorney want these five credibly accused molesters added to the diocesan list.

--Fr. John Patrick Feeney, who was a priest of the Green Bay diocese and stands accused of sexually abusing at least a dozen children during his career, during which he was assigned to 18 parishes. In 2004, he was convicted of child sex crimes and sentenced to 15 years prison.

His name appears on the ‘credibly accused’ lists in three dioceses: Green Bay, Las Vegas and Omaha. He was in the San Diego diocese in 1983 and in the Los Angeles archdiocese from 1990-2002.

--Fr. Bernard Waltos, who was ordained in 1974 and started working in Detroit Michigan. From 1977-1978, he was at Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance and from 1978-1979, he was at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Hermosa Beach.

In the late 1970s, Fr. Waltos worked in the Los Angeles archdiocese and spent roughly ten years at Queen of Angels Parish in Riverside. It is believed he also worked at St. Paul’s in San Pablo, CA.

In 2010, a judge ordered the release of documents relating to the sexual abuse of children by priests in the San Diego diocese. Fr. Waltos’ personnel file was released at that time.

--Fr. Louis I. Newman, who was suspended In 2002 following allegations of sexual misconduct. He was ordained a priest for the Rockville Centre diocese and worked at six New York locations. In California, he was at St. Patrick’s in Carlsbad and at St. Columba’s in San Diego (for some of all of the years between 1994-2002).

--Fr. Lynn Caffoe, who is accused of sexually abusing at least 15 altar boys in virtually every parish he worked. His name was included on the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ 2004 list of priests accused of sexual misconduct involving minors. Fr. Caffoe also spent time in the dioceses of Orange, Portland, Monterey and San Diego (from 1998-2001 at the United States Mission).

--Msgr. James E. Dolan, who was ordained in the Los Angeles archdiocese and the San Diego diocese. According to Los Angeles church officials, Msgr. Dolan was accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a child in 1962. He was included in the archdiocese’s list of priests accused of sexual misconduct involving minors.

Dolan worked at one Los Angeles school, several Los Angeles area churches and at St. Joseph’s parish in San Diego. He is deceased.

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